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Politics : Attack on Iran Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nikole Wollerstein who wrote (125)	6/5/2006 11:56:41 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186

Sift through news from GCC countries over the past couple of months and put-2-and-2 together...that is if you can add.

To: Nikole Wollerstein who wrote (125)	6/6/2006 12:50:06 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 186

Considering that you probably can't read Arabic, here is a little portion from the bottom of an English article on Iran's preparations of possible war with US. The questions you should be asking yourself is why is GCC so reluctant to support US against Iran, given their historical animosity and their present fears of the so called Shia crecent? atimes.com While seen as potentially threatening by several Gulf Arab governments, Iran commands significant popularity among indigenous Shi'ite Arab populations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. To a lesser extend, Sunni Arabs in the Gulf region and the wider Middle East applaud Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad for his strident anti-Western rhetoric, which emphasizes his country's independence and echoes the anti-imperialist liberation ideology of 1960s pan-Arabism. Reflecting this mood, the English-language Gulf News published an editorial on Tuesday titled "An American offer we must refuse". It said, "As if the region was not volatile enough, the US now wants to install an advanced missile system in GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council ] states. "Gulf countries have enough problems trying to walk a narrow path between the various positions ... so there is no need to exacerbate things further by introducing into the region such controversial measures as heightened security controls and advanced missile systems," the newspaper said. At a "consultative summit" in Riyadh on May 6, the GCC countries indicated that they did not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon, but were also opposed to the use of force against it. Their position with regard to Iran, so far, bears greater similarity with the stance taken by Russia and China than the one adopted by the US and its European allies. The GCC is a regional organization comprising the six Persian Gulf Arab states. Created on May 25, 1981, the council's members are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. "The US is being completely ridiculous. While it wishes to police the region, it is dealing with a country that is significantly more powerful than Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Vietnam, and every other country bar Germany that it has ever fought," said Abdurrahman Shayyal.

To: Nikole Wollerstein who wrote (125)	6/8/2006 9:54:00 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 186

Attack on Iran will create panic in the Islamic world By Zahid Hameed ISLAMABAD: The participants of a seminar on Thursday warned the world against the catastrophic consequences that could be set in motion if the United States opted for punitive measures against Iran to resolve the nuclear standoff. “The attack on Iran will set the entire Islamic Ummah in disarray. It will destabilise the Middle Eastern region and put the world at stake,” speakers said at a seminar titled ‘Iran - US standoff: options for Pakistan’, organised by the Institute of policy studies (IPS). The participants asked the government to adopt a pro-active foreign policy to stop the US from attacking Iran over its nuclear programme. Speaking on the US perspective, Lieutenant General Talat Masood said that the US had placed the decision in the hands of the Iranian government after offering alternatives to Iran to put a stop to its uranium enrichment. He said that the US perceived Iran as a hegemonic regional power in the Middle East, which could turn into a global power thus challenging US authority. He said that the possibility of the United States’ military action against Iran could not be ruled out. “Iran failed to report the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding its plutonium enrichment, which gave rise to suspicion, in addition the Iranian president’s statements regarding extinguishing the state of Israel has contributed to heightened tensions between both countries,” Masood said. After 9/11 the United States has been pursuing an aggressive policy and it is applying the same against Iran in the wake of its new nuclear revelations, he said. Masood observed that there were conflicts in approaches towards solving the Iranian nuclear issue, within the key players. Agha Murtaza Poya observed that there was no nuclear standoff between the two countries other than that of the ‘Islamic Bomb’, which was a disturbing factor for the US. Poya also made other observations regarding the Middle East’s future, claiming that there would only be a united Palestinian state and no Israel after 2008, as anti-Zionism was gaining strength in the US. He said that Iran had never stated to have developed nuclear weapons or threatened a nuclear attack on any other nation, which both the US and Israel had done at one point or another. Regarding available Pakistani options in case the United States did attack Iran, he said, that all Pakistan could do was abide by its own foreign policy. He observed that the super power would eventually have to come to a historic comprise with the Islamic world and Pakistan will not have to make a choice between US and Iran. Shamshad Ahmad Khan, the former secretary foreign affairs, said that Pakistan favored a peaceful resolution of the crisis since any punitive action against Iran would disturb the country due to its geo-strategic location. He was of the view that the IAEA should address all gaps in Iran’s nuclear program and stressed that Pakistan abstain from playing any role in resolving the standoff between the two countries, as it doesn’t have any clout in the international politics Senator Khurshid Ahmad said that Pakistan should adopt a pro-active foreign policy so that the US could not go to war against Iran Khurshid was of the opinion that if the super powers did not accept the reality of their brutalities, they would be responsible for any resistance that could result from the struggle. “Terrorism is the product of asymmetry of power and weapon of the weak against the powerful,” he said. Khursheed stressed that Pakistan should act to stop US from using force against Iran even if it was mandated by the UN, saying that illegitimate decisions cannot be put at par with legitimate ones. “ Any action against Iran would go against the Muslim World and the region. Iran must not be left alone,” he stressed. The speakers expressed satisfaction at the recent developments and the considerable reduction in tension between both countries. They termed US readiness to hold negotiations with Iranians on the nuclear issue, as a positive policy shift.